ARCC Conference Repository

1-inch Urbanism:

Michelle Laboy — 2019-05-17

Cities facing the dual environmental crisis of deteriorating water quality and threats of flood from increased rain are realizing the limits of centralized infrastructural capacity, projecting the need for temporary storage of large water volumes for both retention and detention. The notion that many sites should store a certain volume of water for periods from 24-72 hours for landscape- based treatment or delayed delivery to centralized systems”a buffering strategy”drives climate adaptation policies that connect building sites into the performance of urban ecosystems. Emerging urbanisms for decentralized storm water management usually follow standard parameters: e.g. retaining the first 1-inch (2.54cm) of rain during a storm, based on historic data and studies of water quality. As these standard parameters become concretized in the design of individual sites, rain events larger than 1-inch overflows into the centralized system, limiting capacity of the system to historical data and limiting the resilience of the system to future projections. As future rainfall projections intensify, sites will need to expand their buffering capacity. But while buildings still constitute the largest percentage of urban surfaces, their aesthetic, social and performative capacities for storage remains limited. When analyzed against urban scale storage needs, the standard measures of vegetated walls and roofs fall short. Explorations of the potential for buildings to temporary store larger volumes of water on site is fertile territory for new forms of urban architecture integrated to decentralized urban ecologies. This paper seeks to elucidate the idea of stormwater buffering at an architectural scale. A literature review provides various definitions and uses of the term buffering at a landscape scale, reveals the most relevant policy challenges that promote or limit strategies for buffering at various scales, and identifies the most common technical strategies and performance criteria to evaluate their capacity, environmental, experiential and aesthetic effects.

A Case Study for Sensitivity-Based Building Energy Optimization

Fatemeh Shahsavari — 2019-05-18

Building design optimization process is associated with uncertainties due to climate change, unpredictable occupant behavior, and physical degradation of building material over time. The inherent uncertainties in the design process reduce the reliability and robustness of the optim3l design solution(s) and affect design decision-making results. This research studies the capabilities of parametric design tools in adopting probabilistic methods to handle uncertainties in building performance optimization. Variance-based methods, e.g., Monte Carlo sensitivity analyses are implemented to identify the most critical parameters in design optimization problems and improve the efficiency of design optimization. The optimal solutions achieved with variance-based methods are satisfying the design objectives more efficiently, also remain robust to changes and uncertainties.

A framework for the co-benefits and trade- offs of resilience & sustainability certification programs

Homeira Mirhosseini — 2019-05-18

Although concepts of resiliency and sustainability have long been tenets within the culture of design, their modern classification, measurement, and codification in the late 20th and early 21st century are fiercely debated. The need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigate the impacts of global climate change influence current debates around the ways in which to operationalize sustainability and resilience within the built environment. This debate contributes to the confounding relationship between the consensus of ‘sustainability' (i.e. carbon reduction) and the myriad domains of ‘resilience' for designers, which include ecosystems, cities, communities, and individual buildings. The clarity of this debate is further attenuated in the variety of outcomes it seeks, the timescales in which it operates, and the necessary tradeoffs inherent in the process. While sustainability is concerned with resource use and the "carrying capacity of the earth” (Moffatt 2014), increases in manmade and natural disasters have focused attention on how design professionals evaluate both building's impact on the environment (sustainability) and the environment's impact on building (resilience). This paper proposes a framework for describing the synergies and discords that occur between several ‘resilience' and ‘sustainability' building certification programs (BCP). The evolution of various concepts of resilience are briefly explored and used to later inform this framework. Several BCPs are cited within this framework. A matrix showing the relationships between multiple green building rating systems and resilience rating systems is used to incorporate the interpretations of resilience cited in this paper. This comparison includes the rating system origin, application, and range of implementation as it considers resilience scholarship. The table aims to identify the problems, objectives, and co-benefits of various green building rating criteria and resilience criteria. Comparing several rating systems, the gaps and overlapping objectives in each system are identified as they relate to ‘sustainability' or ‘resiliency' outcomes.

A Framework for Urban Building Energy Use Modeling

Narjes Abbasabadi — 2019-05-18

Reliable quantification of energy consumption by buildings plays a key role in development of sustainable cities. However, there are methodological uncertainties embedded in the most common urban scale energy use modeling methods and tools which affect the reliability of these tools and their applicability for decision-making purposes. This article presents a novel bottom- up data-driven framework for urban energy use modeling (UEUM) to help predict energy use more precisely through utilizing disaggregated data at building level, incorporating the actual urban spatial patterns, and testing different algorithms to propose an enhanced prediction model. This framework integrates the influential factors in the model including building characteristics; i.e., height, as an urban intensity metric, urban attributes; i.e., sprawl indices, that are captured in a multidimensional way representing compactness and connectivity of neighborhoods, and occupant characteristics. A case study on 800,000 buildings in seventy-seven neighborhoods in Chicago was used to test the framework. This framework has the potential to help better understand the existing urban energy use profiles and provides a more holistic image of urban energy use at multi-scales of building, block, neighborhood, and urban levels.

An architectural traverse

Chika C Daniels-Akunekwe — 2019-05-17

The assertion that housing propagates the mixing and division of socio- economic classes in cities constitutes a significant portion of studies on socio-spatial segregation and integration. Of the two themes, studies portray housing as being responsible for driving more division than mixing. One of these such housing is social rental housing (SRH), which although designed as a vehicle for integration has often resulted in ostracization of the occupants and even of the housing development (Pendall 1999, Tighe 2010). While countrywide statistics demonstrating this ostracization and consequent opposition is not typically documented, cities around the world; in Australia, Canada, United States, and Europe show rising percentages across themes known to prompt opposition. As a social asset; we hypothesize that the problem with housing, specifically as it pertains to facilitating integration for the poor, is one of transference; that is, how can a bridge between ideas for socialization and the realization of integrated communities be effected through the design of SRHR It is our submission that a review of situations where attempts at transference are evident is necessary to understand its process. In this present paper, the intention of the authors is not to prove their hypothesis but to test it by making connections between several elements - education, educational model, and the role of the architect - as an indication of the complexity of the issue, and designing a conceptual/flow model to reveal the forces at play in the transference process. Therefore, while we discuss the aforementioned elements responsible for the mismatch of architectural idea and outcome, our focus is on architectural practice with respect to the transference of the architect's social intentions into lived reality in the resulting building and its community. By deploying literature investigation into intellectual posturing, and best practices, we discuss two case studies (Tete En L'air and Hatert Housing) that hold promise for the future of successful transference. Initial reviews indicate that the motive for design for these projects was not solely for the purposes of providing accommodation and comfort for its inhabitants but for mixing of socio-economic levels and neighbourhood integration, which was ultimately achieved. Alongside case study review, this paper considers some philosophies of pragmatism in design - specifically those initiated by John Dewey, with the hope that his suggestions could constitute a basis for the actions implemented in the cases.

An Intersection

Nubras Samayeen — 2019-05-17

This interlocutory research examines American Modernist architect Louis Kahn's (1901-1974) works through the lens of landscape design. This research emphasizes the materiality and design instrumentally of water in Kahn's designs that have significant landscape work and explores the reverberating relationship between architecture and landscape. From the late 1950s to his death in 1974, Khan produced his most important works, which include: the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1959-S5) in La Jolla, California; the Kimbell Art Museum (19SS-72) in Fort Worth, Texas; and the National Assembly Building Complex (19S2-83) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All of these selected works with major waterscapes have been heavily influential in the architectural world. The key questions that the paper explores are: How does the water (waterscape) act as an intersect? What role does water play? How is water a cultural connector? These questions are explored via interviews, conversations, empirical and spatial studies of the selected sites, and archival scholarship that includes study of existing drawings and literature. This paper looks at water primarily as an intersectional element that not only acts as the interface of architecture and landscape, but also helps in creation of "contact zones” and a controlled topographic catalyst. Use of water also creates a link between the East and the West, the local and the global, colonial and native, Islamic and non-Islamic, as well as the seen and unseen, expanding to the perception of real and unreal. Holistically, my research creates a bridge between the larger discourse of different cultures, theory, and a cross practice of disciplines.

Addressing barriers for bamboo:

Kyle Schumann — 2019-05-18

The potential benefits of bamboo as a rapidly-renewable, low-carbon, sustainable building material are well established, yet bamboo remains underutilized globally due to laborious manual evaluation and fabrication techniques and deeply-rooted aesthetic stigmas in western culture. 5cholarship in this area has the potential to radically redefine the usage of bamboo as a cheap and sustainable material, but in practice the widespread implementation of bamboo is limited by its cultural perception. This paper examines cultural perceptions of bamboo as a cheap and informal or kitsch vernacular material, using existing scholarship and projects to analyze existing methods and attempts in practice to either elevate or transform perceptions of bamboo through built work and engineered materials. The paper posits how new research by the authors aimed at transforming the use of solid bamboo species can radically shift the way in which bamboo is perceived, transitioning from an irregular kitsch vernacular material to a refined material system that mimics accepted conventions or invents new vernaculars.

Architecture and its (non)permeable boundaries

Vera Parlac — 2019-05-18

The project presented in this paper is part of a larger body of ongoing design research that investigates kinetic and responsive architectural skin systems. It explores integration of custom-made soft robotic muscles into a component-based surface. The result is a prototype of a light modular system capable of kinetic response triggered by inflation and deflation of soft robotic muscles. The project focuses on kinetics of architectural surfaces and tectonics that integrate stasis and motion. It proposes a ‘programmable' architectural modular system that simultaneously addresses stability, dynamics and adaptability of a singular system. This prototype-based research demonstrates the possibility of transforming aggregated structures by inflating and deflating integrated soft components (pneu) within them. In particular, the project explores the capacity of pneu structures to produce a kinetic effect in architectural surfaces. By having an elastic membrane, a pneu structure responds to the change of pressure by changing its mass. The change in pressure can cause considerable physical transformation of the structure. In addition, the nature of a boundary between architecture and its larger ecology is of particular concern. The project is based on two premises. First, that architecture and the built environment in general should be more tightly bound to the dynamics of local ecologies and that strong links to the undercurrents of its surroundings (near and far) could facilitate an active response to constant changes in the environment (external and internal). Second, that responsive architectural systems could act as ecologies in themselves, allowing architecture as a discipline to recalibrate its role in a larger socio-economic context by becoming a more intelligent and operative participant - a participant imbued with foresight.

Acoustic Design of Reconstructed Banff Pavilion of Frank Lloyd Wright

Ramani Ramakrishnan — 2019-05-17

The late Frank Lloyd Wright designed and through an Alberta architect installed a pavilion in Banff, Alberta within the Parks Canada's land. The pavilion was built in the prairie style with a gathering space, washrooms and minimal food services. Built in 1916, it was used only in the summer. However, it was demolished in 1933 due to damage from two major floods. A group of Wright aficionados is very keen to get the pavilion rebuilt with the aim of preserving the original design. The group retained seven Ryerson University academics to study the feasibility of recreating the pavilion with the stipulation that the space can be used all through the year. One of the envisaged uses of the space is a small concert hall in the main meeting space. The original and reconstructed pavilion space uses materials such as glass, stones and concrete. The envelope materials are highly reflective. The acoustical response of the space was simulated in ODEON for different scenarios. One short jazz piece, Autumn Leaves, was used to generate wave files by conducting auralization through OdeOn. Based on the responses movable acoustic panels were designed to produce acceptable concert hall from an acoustic perspective. The results of the acoustic simulations will be presented in this paper.

ANN-Based Thermal Load Prediction Approach for Advanced Controls in Building Energy Systems

Byeongmo Seo — 2019-05-18

The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technology has been used in various areas. In the building industry, however, ANN is relatively less utilized due to its complexity and uncertain benefits of its application along with the costs associated with its development. This paper introduces ANN regarding its applicability and potential benefits in building operations, especially for energy savings. Thermal loads calculations are most widely used for the operation of building energy systems. An ANN model was developed to predict a large office building's cooling loads. The EnergyPlus simulation program was used to generate thermal loads data and the Python program to develop an ANN model. The initial ANN model predicted a case study building's cooling loads within the CVRMSE value of 7.3% initially, and later 6.8% after optimization, which is within the tolerance range of 3Q% recommended by the ASHRAE Guideline 14. This study showed the potential benefit of energy savings that can be achieved by utilizing the ANN model for accurately predicting the cooling loads.

ANTi-History in design research:

Dr Marja Sarvimaki — 2019-05-17

In the postcolonial era, contemporary poststructuralist paradigm shift has provided alternative views of the past as well, especially in terms of new interpretations of regional histories and understanding of cultural contexts. One fairly novel strategy in this respect is ANTi-History, which is an approach to the study of the past drawing on the actor-network theory (ANT). The objective is to offer diverse readings of the largely Euro-America centralized history writing by revealing accounts that have earlier been overlooked. Contrary to the negative connotation of ‘anti', ANTi-History does not, however, negate the significance of history, but aims to pluralize historical narratives. The view is based on Foucauldian poststructuralism and comprehension of the present as it relates to the past. In other words, ANTi-History focuses on the present, while seeking alternate connotations and (de)constructions of past events, particularly in relation to sociopolitical actants and actions. This links ANTi-History to the concept of Applied History, according to which present- day problems can be solved by knowledge of the past. As to design research, substitute readings of history are particularly relevant in the postcolonial contexts, in which ‘place making' as part of re- creating regional identities is the main concern and further related to Critical Regionalism. Hence, this paper examines the interrelationship between ANTi-History, Critical Regionalism, and decolonialization within the discourse on the design of built environment. To clarify ANTi-History as a theoretical framework in architectural research, a single-case study on the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia is given as an example, in order to offer new interpretations of its architecture and design actions in one postcolonial context. Consequently, the paper argues that applications of this paradigm to precedent studies both in the education of architecture and in the practice-based research can be pertinent in the future praxis.

Assessing Circadian Stimulus Potential of Lighting Systems in Office Buildings by Simulations

Sepide Saiedlue — 2019-05-18

Daylighting research has been primarily focused on the visible light spectrum for enhancing the quality and quantity of light in the built environment. Lighting design has been focusing on the reduction of glare and illuminance availability. A new assessment approach has been developed in recent years to address the non-visual effect of light such as circadian entrainment and alertness. The first objective of this study is to evaluate the glazing performance in terms of circadian stimulus potential, visual comfort, and task performance. The second objective is to evaluate the circadian stimulus potential of artificial lights. ALFA is used to measure the three glazing performance at eye-level in office spaces. Equivalent melanopic lux is measured at 1075 virtual nodes over 12 hours on March 21st. Results show that the electrochromic three zones system performs the best among the three glazing options.

Balancing Performance and Aesthetic:

Mark Landis — 2019-05-18

This paper presents a new workflow to optimize a fixed shading device to reduce thermal loads so that performance and aesthetic can be balanced while exploring various shading forms and typologies during any stage of design. The south wall of a prototypical mid-rise office building zone per ASHRAE 189.1 criteria in Albuquerque, New Mexico is studied by extracting annual hourly heating and cooling data generated by Energy Plus. This new workflow is tested against other existing methods of shading device design in terms of performance and aesthetics. The workflow presented in this paper demonstrates the optimization of fixed shading devices for cooling and heating loads without limiting aesthetic options or the shading device typology at the beginning of the process. This workflow produces iterations that perform similarly in terms of energy savings so that a designer can select a shading device based on other criteria such as aesthetic concerns or constructability issues. The user can move between different shading typologies and add their own creative, artistic interpretations, while not being required to run many simulations after each design change. This paper demonstrates a process that is more in-line with the building design process. Foundational works in the field of other shading device design methods are included to provide a point of comparison between existing practice and the proposed workflow.

Between Research and Practice:

Sadiqa Al Awadh — 2019-05-18

Internal, multi-story atria present an opportunity to harvest daylight as well as create connections to the outdoors in commercial and educational buildings. They also have the potential to help moderate well-being for occupants and provide informal gathering spaces that form social interactions for buildings' users. Despite the increased deployment of atria in contemporary, sustainable buildings, there is a lack of studies investigating the relationship between atrium design strategies, expected outcomes, and their realized impacts on occupants' comfort, health, and experience. The intent of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of two different atria typologies in two LEED campus buildings from both building performance and occupants' perspectives. A comparative field study was conducted in these two buildings to assess how the shape, form, orientation, and geometry of the two atria impacted daylighting autonomy, glare, chronobiological light response, occupants' perceptions, and functional use of both spaces. This paper concludes with insights on the relationship between daylighting design metrics employed in practice and their consequential impacts on the real space as perceived by the occupants. It attempts to answer whether an atrium that meets building performance standards necessarily translate to a healthy indoor environment and positive human experience. Results from this study suggest that atrium design can be optimized to balance daylight quantity and quality through prescribed design parameters. However, the success of the design with the intent of a space that encourages social interaction requires more attention to human behavior, atrium function, and typology.

Bionic Building Concept

Peter Russell — 2019-05-18

This paper describes a framework for creating a structured series of levels of building automation. It is designed to allow buildings to acquire intelligence about their own systems and equipment and to gradually obtain control of themselves. This allows planners, users, owners and other actors in the planning, construction and use to view and understand the building's operations and performance at many levels. The framework has five horizontal levels and three communication streams. Each level implies a degree of automation with the scale shifting from the mechanization at the bottom to intelligence at the top. The levels describe (bottom to top) the physical object, their representation as data, the history of the data, the processes to analyse and model the histories, and at the highest level, the ability to learn from this analysis to predict, model and plan future building behaviour. Information moves among these levels in an upstream path as well as in a downstream path. The upstream path describes how sensor information is curated to create logs that, using the IFC structure, create semantic histories. In the downstream path, the histories are measured against simulations and model-based predictions to create use-models and potential event sequences. The event sequences then become the instruction sets for the actuators and equipment in the building. Once these are carried out, the effects then feed the sensor data back upstream. In this way, a cycle of information both upstream and downstream feeds a system that can learn. The paper also describes the third stream of communication. This, at each level of the framework, shows how information given to people can be categorized in a scale of increasingly sentient perception. This denotes how the different levels allow users to perceive the building as a purely mechanistic process at the lowest level and as a sentient being at the highest level.

Can Hourly-Based Annual Daylighting Simulations Predict Daylight Availability in Dynamic Sky?

Jae Yong Suk — 2019-05-17

For successful daylight harvesting in buildings, daylight availability should be accurately evaluated and predicted. Daylight availability can be evaluated by either point-in-time computer simulations under a predetermined sky condition for a given site's geographical location or climate based daylighting simulations with standard meteorological datasets. However, predetermined sky condition or hourly climate data might not be able to predict drastic changes of dynamic sky. As daylight harvesting performance depends on daylight availability, it is important to check whether or not there is significant discrepancy between hourly-based daylighting simulations and real time measurements of luminous environment under dynamic sky conditions. Located in San Antonio, a closed office space with south facing windows was selected for both field measurements and computer-based daylighting simulations. Constant monitoring of indoor and outdoor luminous environments were compared to hourly-based daylighting simulation results in order to verify its effectiveness in predicting daylight availability in dynamic sky conditions. Vertical and horizontal illuminance levels were measured to document natural light distribution inside the office every minute for a 40 day period. Collected data shows how quickly and drastically indoor luminous environment has changed under the actual sky conditions, which would greatly impact electric lighting and interior blind controls.

Clyfford Still Museum

Mary Guzowski — 2019-05-17

This paper explores the immeasurable and measurable dimensions of daylighting design strategies, methods, and tools used by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado. The author interviewed Brad Cloepfil and Chelsea Grassinger of Allied Works and Christopher Rush of Arup New York to assess design intentions, strategies, processes, and the diverse daylighting design methods and tools used to integrate the poetic and practical dimensions of daylighting design. The paper will consider three issues: I) daylight design intentions and program, 2) daylight strategies, and 3) daylight design processes, methods, and tools. The case study reveals the diverse processes and methods used by the design team to work back and forth between exploratory methods such as drawing, diagramming and physical study models; performance based analysis and calculations; and spatial and atmospheric renderings and visualizations. The Clyfford Still Museum reveals that the processes of discovery, experimentation, and serendipity are equally as important as is a rigorous analytical approach to the art and science of daylighting design.

Collaboration in Design:

C Grey Isley — 2019-05-18

Collaborative design is a complex process that differs from the conventional system of sequential design by means of personal interaction, communication, and timing of design decisions. The complexity of the collaborative system, however, gives way to reduced cost and risk, increased project delivery speed, and improved building performance. As building projects become more complicated through technological advancements, and the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) practice embraces more integrated processes, it is important to understand the dynamics of collaborative design. Through the study of previous projects, intimate knowledge can be gained regarding partner interaction, oversights, team dynamics, processes, and benefits that are not always a part of a standardized list of collaborative benefits. This study will provide this insight by framing the design and construction of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library using a narrative case study format, beginning with designer selection and focusing on the collaborative aspects of the process. This transformative library is an example of innovation and success through collaboration. At many stages, the study of this project allows observes to gain insight into the the personal interaction between Snehetta and NCSU that enabled the project to be successful. This insight is provided through the review of construction and design documents, interviews of stakeholders and design professionals, and literature. The summary of the process will provide reviewers an example into how a collaborative process may differ from traditional methods, potential conflicts and understanding required for solution, and how collaborative design can benefit innovation and project success.

Common Area Allocation, Patterns and Design in Permanent Supportive Housing

Christina Bollo — 2019-05-17

As a response to the growing homelessness crisis in North America, many non-profit housing providers are directing their architects to design housing projects that provide extensive support service spaces on site to support the transition from homelessness for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. This paper reports on a study of the common spaces of Permanent Supportive Housing projects, which provide chronically homeless individuals with affordable housing, as well as emotional, mental, and physical health resources on-site. The purpose of the paper is to establish the stylized facts of common area allocation in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). The data for this research are the common area floor plans for twelve PSH projects. These spaces are analyzed, and typical entry sequences are compared with the intent of understanding the approach to security. The relationships between fundamental rooms are delineated through Space Syntax Analysis. The results from the study reveal high visibility between entry lobbies, offices, and threshold spaces though the space syntax indicated a significant amount of depth between the spaces, indicating difficulty of movement between them. The presence of a vestibule correlated with a greater depth of spaces but also greater visibility for staff and residents. Ultimately, the research serves the health and well-being of the residents and staff of future projects through an evidence-based approach to designing supportive service and resident common spaces. Future research will build on this analysis to investigate the empirical well-being outcomes influenced by design.

Community Resilience in the face of Riverine Flooding:

Umme Hani — 2019-05-18

Flooding as an adverse effect of climate change is becoming more pronounced each day, making communities vulnerable to its threats. There is an urgent need for resilience planning and well-coordinated, science-based design intervention. There is significant information on coastal flooding as evident from recent resilience competitions. The goal of this paper is to learn from this information what can be done to address the lack of coordination and communication related to flooding in Pennsylvania's riverine communities. Only 186 out of more than 2500 communities are safe from high water, making flooding the most frequent and damaging disaster in Pennsylvania according to PEMA (Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency). A recent survey carried out by DVPRC shows that riverine flooding represents risks in the form of flooding of private properties and roadways and stress on aging water infrastructure like sewer lines and dikes. While the US government has led initiatives to plan for resilience, there is a lack of expertise, coordination and communication to guide the process. Reports on the winning projects in recent competitions are a source to address current short-fallings. By taking a step forward and leading the path towards resilience planning, they have provided resources that can be translated to inform other regions and risks. This research undergoes a case-study review of a couple of resilience competitions to learn about their resilience design process. Using this knowledge, it aims to close the gap in knowledge and address limitations of a traditional planning process across Pennsylvania's riverine communities. Findings focus on effective community-engagement strategies, need for and ways to adopt multi- disciplinary collaboration, institutional changes required to facilitate resilience planning and the overall resilience design process. The paper concludes that traditional planning approaches by local government bodies could largely benefit from adopting or locally adapting the proposed resilient strategies.

Computational tools for designing shape- changing architectures

Elena Vazquez — 2019-05-17

Smart materials or systems are characterized by having built-in sensors and actuators, adjusting their properties in response to external stimulus. The rapid development of these technologies presents an immense opportunity for designers and architects to provide innovative and creative solutions for adaptive buildings. However, there are several challenges for the incorporation of smart materials in the toolbox of architects in design practice: The lack of an overlap in knowledge between material science fields and design practices; the addition of time as a condition that renders these materials inherently dynamic; and the general disconnect between material issues in typical design settings. This paper discusses the challenges for designing shape-changing architecture and examines the way in which computational tools or digital technologies can help overcome those limitations in design practice. Finally, we discuss an approach for designing shape changing architectures with the aid of digital technologies, highlighting the different considerations that must be taken into account.

Cultivating research:

Ahmed Ali — 2019-05-17

Green and living walls are an old idea made anew through the use of conventional construction materials used in new and creative ways. There is now a broad market for mass- produced prefabricated living wall systems that are made from PVC, metal, and or geotextiles. There exist hydroponic living walls made from geotextiles and fabric materials, rigid modular living walls made from PVC, and green fagade structures made from cable and steel mesh to support ground- based vines. Most conventional materials for green walls in the market are derived from raw material or recycled PVC. This study investigates alternative materials already in the solid waste stream that were ready for creative reuse. The purpose of this project was to explore if existing sheet metal by- products could be repurposed as green wall systems and provide beneficial ecosystem services. A secondary purpose was to educate the campus community about sustainability through improving the value of industrial by-products thereby reducing waste streams in the production of new materials, energy conservation and reduced water use for green walls through the use of drought tolerant vegetation. Initial readings for the living wall system surface was 2.68 to 3.92 and up to 4.6 degrees Celsius cooler than the adjacent concrete wall. Students and faculty at Texas A&M university worked through a dozen different green wall modular designs. One design was refined and was trialed for cutting using a water-jet machine and assembled with manual folding. Three hundred prism shaped modules were attached to a vertical steel frame. Drip irrigation lines deliver water to each module. Drought tolerant plants were used to minimize irrigation water. It is estimated that compared to conventional living walls, the proposed system uses about half of the volume of water needed for irrigation. More detailed analysis is currently under investigation.

Designing an adaptive building envelope for warm-humid climate with bamboo veneer as a hygroscopically active material

Manal Anis — 2019-05-18

To address climate responsiveness, most of the envelope strategies experimented by architects so far has incorporated automated high-tech systems, electronic sensors and actuators, increasing our energy consumption. As our climate continues to change concomitant to our reliance on non-renewable energy sources, low-tech passive fagade systems require a more thorough investigation to adapt them for large-scale application. This includes an in-depth focus on sustainable building materials to generate a technologically independent, carbon-neutral building fagade. Materials such as bamboo, due to its hygroscopic nature, undergo constant expansion and contraction with changing levels of atmospheric humidity. From a crafting and construction perspective, this spontaneous dimensional change is seen as an inherent drawback of working with bamboo, with attempts being made to control, or mitigate, the change. But in order to develop a passive system of responsive architecture, it is time we look at the hygroscopic movement intrinsic to bamboo as an opportunity, rather than a challenge, and integrate it within the material performance of architecture itself. This paper looks into bamboo veneer as an adaptive material to help rethink building facades as organic, breathable skins rather than a mechanized barrier between human and nature. The methodology incorporates a series of physical experiments to study the deformation of a bilayer bamboo composite consisting of a bamboo veneer bonded with a clear cellulose film. The film, being non-reactive to climate, amplifies the curving motion of bamboo, along with its return to the initial position. The module was then used to explore different fagade patterns to study the opening and closing mechanism that could potentially generate maximum ventilation. The outcome of the research will consist of a working, demonstrable prototype for a no- tech adaptive fagade pattern that, while undergoing a bio-mechanical response, will perform particular functions including shading and/or ventilation, leading to a truly material-integrated architecture.

Designing Eden:

Maria Del C. Vera — 2019-05-17

The omnipresence of the algorithmic gaze is not just easing the capacity to crawl, index, and rank everything according to rule-based praxises but also shifting the dimensions of where, when, and how citizens move or circulate through the urban commons (O'Brien, 2018). In the absence of urban thinkers or participatory planning, these new alterations take place within the invisible peripheries of algorithms. This paper examines the change, and the spatial currencies reconditioned by the interplay of city-making and city-indexing as infrastructure, urban spaces, and built settings become indistinctively itemized. It recognizes that this is an ongoing process that continues to flatten, catalog, and index the physical characteristics of space which produces a virtual inventory of urban proportions subjecting city officials to accelerate the re-privatization, deregulation, and re-colonization of vast territories. It is within these transactions that we see a re-territorializing of the city's context and the uneven usage of spatial distribution underway. In the case of the American city, the range of impact caused by these emerging transactions is seemingly local, but we claim that the dynamics of city- indexing reverberate across different scales extending from local to regional, and national proportions. To depict our work, we choose a comparative method that aims to associate the impact of rule- base praxis with changes at the urban and regional scale. To start, we correlate the re-scaling of territories at a suburban sector in 5ilicon Valley with the re-development plans for downtown Las Vegas. We then linked those actions to the 2017-2018 bids enacted by Amazon and the likely effect it may yield from the northeastern region of the U5A (a zone first identified by Jean Gottmann as a co-dependent megalopolis in 1961 and later coined as BO5WA5H by Herman Khan in 1967) to the Midwest.

Digital postmodernism

Katie MacDonald — 2019-05-17

Three decades strong, the Digital Turn is now mature enough to be read as a precedent rather than merely a tool for futuristic forms. Aesthetic fascination throughout the Digital Revolution has cycled through parametricism, cyberpunk, minimalism, and the more recent Vaporwave, New Aesthetic, and Postdigital. The philosophy of Object-Oriented Ontology shapes aesthetic theory and our understanding of the inner lives of things. The aggregation of these influences leads to a new self-consciousness among designers about leveraging digital tropes. In lieu of the road signs and duck buildings of Postmodernism, Digital Postmodernism embraces digital aesthetics and techniques”neon gradients, aggregation, feeds, pixels/voxels, and other ‘signs' of the digital. Efforts to translate the aesthetics of computer imagery into physical space (and thus into practice) have emerged. Models and architectural follies produced in this vein suggest a material palette for bridging from representation to reality: architects seek to create physical versions of digital models, where the reading of space as being syntactically digital is the point. The implication for practice is thus a return to the linguistic concerns of Postmodernism”in lieu of disciplinary-centricity, however, Digital Postmodernism engages the public's deep knowledge and familiarity with the tropes of digital space. The grounding of this architectural movement in popular perception suggests the possibility of bringing together architects and public, united in their desire to bridge the parallel worlds of virtual and physical space.

Eileen Gray, Systems Thinker

Ray K Mann — 2019-05-17

I propose to show how Eileen Gray is an exemplar of Systems Thinking, and in so doing articulate how Systems Thinking can and should be integral to design on multiple levels from the conceptual/aesthetic to the pragmatic. After years of near-obscurity, Eileen Gray (1878-1976) has secured her place as a thinker and designer who contributed significantly to Modernism at its inception. Scholars Peter Adam, Caroline Constant, Wilfried Wang and Jennifer Goff have detailed the depth of her knowledge and the sophistication of her working processes and innovation, both in the decorative arts/interiors and in her architecture”with the consensus that Eileen Gray had an unusually detailed and dynamic way of thinking about climate and site, functionality in daily life, and materiality and material processes”above and beyond many of her contemporaries. Systems Thinking”which emerged a half-century ago as a fundamental framework for environmental and economic sciences”enacts the notion that objects, forces, ideas, and especially people”interact and are mutually influenced in both somewhat predictable but startlingly dynamic ways. In architecture, we tend to attach the notion of systems to either the technical or the holistic/societal, but more clarity is needed about how it impacts the act of design itself, at the moment when multiple and competing interests are made manifest in matter and form. By outlining how Gray brought a kind of "operational thinking” to multiple aspects of her work, I will demonstrate through logical argumentation how she exemplifies Systems Thinking as enacted in design. A corollary motivation for this thesis is to take Eileen Gray out of relative”albeit admiring”isolation and place her in a framework that can further emphasize the nature of her contribution. Enriching the discourse on the design-specific implications of Systems Thinking also offers a potent bridge between theory and practice.

Elevating a facade theory into practice

Mary Ben Bonham — 2019-05-18

This paper draws connections between building enclosure technologies from the time of Le Corbusier's mur neutralisant and respiration exacte concepts to a present-day double-skin glass fagade system, the closed cavity fagade (CCF). The successes and failures of Le Corbusier's thermally controlled interior and hermetically sealed wall concepts are examined as they were applied to Villa Schwob (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland,1916), Centrosoyuz (Moscow, Russia, 1928), and the Salvation Army Building in its originally built form (1933). Building on this historical context, the paper discusses facade technologies that emerged in 1980s and 1990s that sought to improve upon the performance of sealed glazing by eliminating condensation, improving thermal comfort and integrating solar control: the ventilated double-skin facade and the less widely discussed fagade pressurisee (pressurized facade) and facade respirante (breathable facade). The facade technologies are elaborated upon in the cases of the French National Library (1989-1995) and the Grenoble Law Court (1994-2002) where facades were fabricated by French manufacturer Rinaldi-Structal. In these projects, non-standard building technologies were developed and applied through the aggregate efforts of French government research labs, manufacturers, architects, and insurers. Today, breathable facade technology is largely limited to use in France; each application receives technical review by a state agency during the design phase. On the other hand, pressurized facade technology has spread to other parts of Europe and beyond under the name CCF. Innovative forms of CCF developed by Gartner/Permasteelisa, based on initial experimentation in coordination with a German research institute, continue to push the performance envelope: CCF with facade-integrated ventilating floor slots (Roche Diagnostics, Rotreuz, Switzerland, 2011), CCF with operable windows (LEO Building, Frankfurt, Germany, 2013), CCF with wooden louvers in the cavity (EY Center, Sydney, Australia, 2014), CCF with tilted exterior faces (JTI Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, 2015). The built works and the threads of technological development between them are identified as applied research that bridges between theory and practice.

Energy Savings by Form Design in Schools

Meriem Rahmani — 2019-05-18

This study is a part of a comprehensive study that aims to investigate the impact of school building form on energy consumption. The methodology included two parts: in part one the study conducted a survey that covered all schools under Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) authority; in addition to performing a design model analysis that helped identify the possible form design variables that can impact the building performance with their value ranges. Part two the study performed an hour-by-hour computer simulation to test the impact of different building form variables on energy consumption. The simulation was carried out in two phases, Phase I covered the investigation of the existing design models obtained from ADEK without any manipulation of the form variables. While Phase II covered a broader range of cases under more controlled conditions. The investigation was based on Abu Dhabi climatic conditions with respect to ADEK school requirements and Estidama green building guidelines. The simulation results revealed the effect of each design variable of the school building form on energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The most important outcome of the study is the establishment of two concepts to evaluate the behavior of building form in influencing energy performance; i.e., form verticality and horizontality.

Environmental and economic implications of building envelope design

Rahman Azari — 2019-05-18

There is a wealth literature on operational energy consumption of buildings and how building skins contribute to that. Little is known about the life-cycle environmental impacts of building skins and it is not clear if the operational energy savings that are achieved by improvement strategies in building skin (such as more insulation, external shading devices, PV systems) would indeed result in lower environmental impacts from a life-cycle perspective. Even less clear is how economic and life-cycle environmental impacts of buildings would vary by the changes in architectural design parameters. In the present study, we quantify the variations in operational energy, environmental impacts and costs as a result of change in building skin design and construction parameters. We will examine building envelopes in low-rise office buildings from economic and environmental perspectives. For this purpose, 91 different design combinations of a building envelope are considered with different thermal resistance values of wall, wall-to-window ratios, window types, and frame materials. We then use Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to study the variations of design combination with respect to global warming, acidification, eutrophication, and smog formation. Simultaneously, Life- Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is applied to examine the cost changes in design combinations. Then, regression analysis is conducted to find the association between design combinations and changes in environmental impacts and cost fluctuations.

Environmental Performance Evaluation of Enclosure Systems Alternatives in Office Buildings in the U.S.

Ash Ragheb — 2019-05-18

Low impact materials have become key player towards achieving environmental sustainability in the built environment. 5uch materials also contribute to carbon neutral buildings, responding to AIA 2030 challenge and many other initiatives by governmental and professional institutions. Building enclosure incorporates many construction materials that contribute to overall embodied energy and environmental impact. It also affects building operational energy as a barrier between indoor and outdoor environment. The study method employs a quantitative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach in calculating environmental impacts of enclosure systems. The paper models an office building over a service life of 60 years and its implications on the environment from cradle to grave. It also quantifies and compares the total impacts of the assembly systems of this building throughout this life span. The case building is located in the Midwest in zone 5, where steel construction is the common method of construction for commercial type in the region. The building is a 1-story high that incorporates few sustainable materials. The study calculates the environmental footprint of the building per unit area (impact to air, water, and land). To achieve its goal, the study provides an assessment to which building component (structure, walls, floors, roofs) contribute the most to the total building impacts where the worst burden, among its assembly systems, is identified. The outcome tests other materials alternatives to use in the roofing system to minimize its impact. The paper employs a "what if” scenario analysis to evaluate replacing high- impact materials with alternatives that have less impacts and briefly calculate the reduction in the total impacts against the original construction materials.

Evaluating the in-situ effectiveness of indoor environment guidelines on occupant satisfaction

Junmeng Liu — 2019-05-17

Post occupancy evaluation (POE) studies typically use a combination of occupant questionnaires and physical measurements of various aspects of the indoor environment to assess building performance. These physical measurements are often compared against published reference limits to evaluate compliance and satisfactory performance. This study investigates whether indoor environment conditions compatible with published indoor environment quality (IEQ) standards and guidelines are predictive of occupant satisfaction. Data used in this study were collected as part of two large building evaluation field studies conducted in the past eight years. Occupant questionnaire and physical measurement data from 11 office buildings across North America were used (N=194). Inputs for the analyses were demographic factors and workstation characteristics, as well as aspects of the measured physical indoor environment. Outcome variables were various measures of environmental satisfaction (i.e. lighting, acoustics/privacy, and ventilation/temperature). The results of this study suggest that occupants had higher satisfaction with lighting when measured desktop illuminance levels were within IESNA RP-1-12 (2012) recommendations. Measured sound levels and thermal conditions within reference limits did not correlate to higher occupant satisfaction in their respective categories.

Expanding Urban Cultural Production:

David Karle — 2019-05-18

This research paper tackles the principle question of how operational landscapes operating at a territorial scale are impacting rural communities. The spatial design disciplines, as stewards of the built environment, need to take concerted steps to broaden their scope of design related to the franchise-driven space of corporate America. No longer can the permanence of architecture fall victim to the dynamic and flexible systems that created it. As such, this paper will present a case study focusing on Costco's forthcoming chicken plant in Fremont, Nebraska as a form of "urban” cultural production constructed to service the 60 million rotisserie chickens sold by Costco wholesale stores each year.

Exploring developers' understanding of health strategies in multifamily development

Traci Rose Rider — 2019-05-17

Discussions around health are increasingly seen in design. Stakeholders across different built environments are beginning to break apart the meaning of "health”. Despite multifamily housing being forecasted to add an additional 4.4 million units by 2025 (Freddie Mac 2016), market- rate multifamily developers are largely latecomers to health conversations. This paper outlines the structure, methodology, and findings of a multi-year project supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation addressing how multifamily developers understand, talk about, and execute health strategies. Using an exploratory case study methodology to address how and why (Yin 2017), three multifamily developers situated as early adopters of health strategies were recruited to better understand how they conceptualized, executed, and evaluated health strategies. In-depth interviews were held in the developers' home offices in the southeast United States, using a semi-structured interview protocol to explore standard processes, partnerships, designs, and strategies specifically related to health. Cyclical memoing, data collection, transcription, and analysis allowed for reflexivity and protocol modification as new issues emerged. Site visits, web site analysis, and clicks through national online real estate databases also contributed to triangulation and a holistic perspective of this complex problem. Results suggest that private multifamily developers focus on commonly accepted and easily marketable strategies with little application of evaluative metrics (Rider et al. 2018). When directly questioned about health strategies, participants focused on place making, community building, and social and mental wellbeing, as well as designated fitness spaces. Participants were uncomfortable discussing health strategies in terms of health outcomes through a public health lens. This research aims to suggest a shift in interdisciplinary conversations around health in multifamily real estate, ultimately supporting a more diligent adoption of health strategies in this difficult building type. These results can support stakeholders in design, development, private investment, property management, public health, community design, and policy.

Fieldwork in-between architecture and anthropology:

Irem Oz — 2019-05-17

Architecture and anthropology have long had similar interests regarding the built environment and its relationship to social life. While architecture has traditionally held the material aspects of the built form as its focus, seeing the built structure as an end in itself, anthropological studies considered the built form as a means to gain further insight into different sociocultural practices. Developments over the last few decades have changed the direction of both disciplines. With architecture's break from modernism and universalism, more architects began creating buildings for culturally specific contexts (Stender, 2017). At the same time, anthropology, along with other branches of the social sciences, took a "spatial turn,” developing an interest in space, place and their human and non-human interaction with an emphasis on the performative nature of the built environment: what architecture does, rather than what is represents (Buchli, 2013). Despite different foci, the approaches of anthropology and architecture to the same subject allowed for significant methodological and theoretical overlap, and therefore potential for collaboration. In this paper, I explore this potential. In order to so do, I examine the historical links between anthropology and architecture as academic disciplines, identify religious architecture as a potential area of collaboration, and present the preliminary results of my ethnographic fieldwork in Duisburg, Germany.

Future of architectural hybridity:

Mahyar Hadighi — 2019-05-18

The aim of this study is to explore the notion of stylistic hybridity in architecture by using shape grammar as a computational design methodology. The mid-twentieth-century architecture produced by William Hajjar is used as a case study for this exploration. Hajjar was a member of the architecture faculty at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), a practitioner in State College where the University Park campus is located, and an influential figure in the history of architecture in the area. The residential architecture he designed for and built in the area incorporates many of the shapes, rules, and features of both modern European architecture and traditional American architecture. Using computational methodology, this study offers an investigation into this hybridity phenomenon and explores the possibility of producing hybrid architectural designs for future uses. In the present study, shape grammars are used specifically to verify and describe the influence of Bauhaus/European modernism on Hajjar's domestic architecture: rules from the grammar developed for his single-family houses in the State College area will be compared with rules from the grammar developed for the Gropius-Breuer partnership in the United States. The potential of shape grammar will be discussed as an effective complementary tool for architectural historians to use in a mathematically rigorous way to verify the formal and functional similarities between styles. In short, it is proposed that shape grammars be used broadly in detective work to verify or disprove hypotheses.

Glass fabrication

Rima Ajlouni — 2019-05-18

In architecture, the prevalence of computational design and digital fabrication has led to an increase in exploration of casting modulated geometry using fabricated molds. However, the use of mold making strategies are often limited to casting materials that conform easily to mold geometry (i.e. concrete, plaster, resin, ceramics, etc.). It is rarely that fabrication strategies are used to explore materials with challenging behavioral properties such as glass. As a result, glass in its non-flat form has been underutilized in contemporary architecture. Because of its complicated physical behavior and the technical difficulties associated with the fabrication processes, architecture education often avoids exploring such medium. One key challenge with casting glass using fabricated refractory molds relates to understanding the behavior of glass under certain physical conditions and temperature profiles. If such parameters are not anticipated, the geometry of the final casted elements can be substantially different from the design intentions. This research argues that computation can be used to predict glass forming behavior under different temperature profiles, which can inform the design and fabrication processes. The goal is to highlight the importance of integrating the complexities of the physical reality into the design and fabrication processes, especially within the context of the educational experience. To contribute to this creative discourse this paper explores the limits of precision from computation to fabrication as it relates to casting glass. The objective is to design and test an algorithm for predicting edge/corner geometry of casted glass under different temperature profiles. Physical experiments are used to evaluate and recalibrate the prediction algorithm. Results show that the digital predictions are within acceptable tolerance and can be enhanced using data from physical experiments.

How Designers Learn to Learn:

Mackenzie Bullard — 2019-05-17

Performing research under the umbrella of design engages various methodological approaches. Scholars such as Christopher Frayling (1993) position dominant modes of art and design research as research-/nto, research-through, and research-for, while more contemporarily Laurene Vaughan (2017) argues for the value and importance of practice-based design research as an embodied "research-a//” approach. Through practice-based research, the traditionally distinct role of designer-maker and research-writer often merge for "making,” both in engaging theoretical frameworks and in focusing research activities. However, in disciplines such as architecture and industrial design that have traditionally favored investigating the measurable performance of "products” as primarily positivistic, the individual's motivation to initiate directed research activities may be challenged by merging different modes of knowledge acquisition and production. This leads us to question in what ways understanding individual motivation and self-concept can inform the research process under the umbrella of design research. By more closely examining Jacquelynne Eccles (1987) educational model of Expectancy Value Theory, this paper focuses on the rarely acknowledged issue of an individual's motivational beliefs and self-concept in the practice of design research. This exploration begins to conceptually connect these influential factors, especially a designer/researcher's expectancies and values toward certain tasks, to their learning behavior and performance. Specifically, by looking at traditions in institutional pedagogy and their emphasis on visual and textual knowledge and content provides evidence of a separation between "thinking of things” and "writing design.” Using Donald Shon's (1984) concept of "reflective practice” in design, research practices and activities can be viewed as successions of representation and conscious learning that are accessible, manipulatable, and flexible. Through practice-based design research ” or research-*// ” this paper posits that an individual's motivation, expectancies, values, and experiences are reflected in their "knowledge performances” and research design.

Hybrid Studio

Matthew Tierney — 2019-05-17

Within the allied professions of architecture, engineering, and construction, there is an imminent need to creatively hybridize the disparate realms of research, public interest design, and traditional practice. This hybrid has the potential to reinvigorate these professions and shift the relevance of the industry in line with the current and future issues facing the built environment. Snow Kreilich Architects, has begun to combine these disparate realms of practice/inquiry into a hybridized studio model in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This paper will use case study methodology to document and summarize the process of forming such a hybrid. The topics discussed will include: (1) Drawing precedent for research-oriented and purpose-oriented organizations and from the fields of medicine, law, and technology. (2) The underpinnings of hybrid design organizations, drawing precedent from the University of Minnesota's Master of Research Practices in Architecture (MS-RP) program (3) evaluate and discuss the successes and shortcomings associated with hybridizing an existing studio- based architectural practice. (4) Discuss the potential benefits of combining these realms from a financial, operational, and relevance point of view. As a case study, Snow Kreilich Architects' existing architectural practice explored how research within the firm has potential to elevate the everyday work we do and also provide design services through alternative means to marginalized topics and populations, both domestically and abroad. Critically, both types of service are arranged logistically to behave in symbiosis. Within this evolving environment at Snow Kreilich Architects, the unlikely combination of research, architectural services, and public interest design agendas found common ground to be pursued through an innovative business model. Identifying alternative, recurring sources of funding was a critical step in forming an operational and budgetary plan for how research and pro bono activities could function alongside the existing structure of the firm. These two modes of practice were already an integral part of the way the studio worked but both research and pro bono projects were treated as entirely philanthropic activities. Leveraging interdisciplinary partnerships under the umbrella of a non-profit status allowed previously anecdotal research and philanthropic design projects to go further and have larger impact backed by calculated research methodology and dedicated research staff. The hybrid studio offers possibilities for the profession to broaden its lens, work with unlikely interdisciplinary partners, and design for segments of the population outside the profession's traditional reach. The hybrid structure piloted and evolving at Snow Kreilich Architects allows the studio the flexibility and capacity to deal with complex problems presented in the world. We see the opportunities for this type of hybrid operational model to expand its application and to grow in importance as the architectural profession, and other professions, are asked to creatively produce thoughtful solutions to urgent issues in the built and unbuilt environments.

Impacts of Dynamic Glazing on Office Workers' Environmental and Psychological Responses

Joon-Ho Choi — 2019-05-17

Indoor environmental quality is a critical factor that significantly affects an occupant's work productivity, environmental health, and quality of life, especially in the workplace where a competent organization, and pleasant and healthy surroundings help assure maximum productivity. However, most building environmental design components, such as façade, are static, while the outdoor environmental condition (i.e., weather) is dynamically affecting the indoor environmental quality with significant and diverse changes. This structural limitation results in potentially compromising the environmental perceptions of a building's occupants. With the help of advanced technologies, there have been numerous efforts to implement dynamic features in modern buildings, especially dynamic structural façade components, such as electrochromic windows (called dynamic glazing). An industrial and academic research collaboration team conducted an on-site building study by collecting IEQ components in a commercial office, that was equipped with dynamic glazing. For effective comparison, an occupant environmental satisfaction study was conducted on two floors, one equipped with conventional manual blinds, and the other with dynamic glazing. The study outcomes showed that the occupants on the floor equipped with dynamic glazing reported higher environmental and psychological satisfaction/positive responses than those on the floor equipped with manual blinds. This study also revealed that environmental satisfaction and psychological perceptions could be affected by different workstation locations, such as core and perimeter zones. Therefore, these results confirmed that dynamic glazing could be effectively integrated with modern building environments to enhance individual occupants' environmental perceptions and psychological health. It follows that this would result in higher work productivity in a commercial office workplace.

Indigenous Design Knowledge and Placemaking in the Climate Diaspora

James Miller — 2019-05-19

Climate change forced displacement and resettlement is becoming a pressing topic as the impacts of sea level rise, drought, and severe tropical storms increasingly impact communities' livelihoods. As communities and entire nations are forced to resettle, how will basic social and cultural structures be maintained? The transportation of resilient socio-cultural patterns becomes essential for maintaining the health and well-being of a community. Thus, the investigation of the dialectic relationship between culture and the built- environment is essential in the Anthropocene. Through a multi-sited case study of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, this paper demonstrates the use of Indigenous Knowledge within the production of the built environment to negotiate the relationships between the social world, the natural world, and the colonial world. Three communities were studied spanning rural, peri-urban, and urban environments in order to demonstrate the application of Indigenous Knowledge across space and time in the production of the builtenvironment. Participant observation, unstructured interviews, mental mapping exercises, site documentation, and aerial mapping were among the methods used for data collection in order to triangulate evidence. A framework of six systems of Indigenous Design Knowledge were uncovered; each have aided the Marshallese in the production of culturally-supportive environments in the face of colonization, urbanization, and the imposition of U.S. imperialism. While further investigation in the cultural production of space in the Marshallese Diaspora is required, it is argued that this framework of Marshallese Design Knowledge should be employed in the planning, design, and management of any future resettlement proposal to assist communities in the maintenance of healthy socio-cultural patterns through the cultural production of the built-environment. Furthermore, the methods and approach taken in this study demonstrate a useful framework for investigating the dialectic relationship between culture and the built- environment for other climate diasporas.

Inventing New Modes of Dissemination

Diane Al Shihabi — 2019-05-30

When we shift the word practice from noun to verb, practice turns into testing, experimenting with what is at hand. If we then apply this performative approach to the practice of teaching preservation and cultural heritage in a design studio setting, what would be the consequences? What would happen if we consider teaching as a practice of research and, consequently, of research as experimentation in a field that inherently resists innovation of practice? Two professors, one from architecture, the other from interior design, offer preliminary answers to these questions while also laying out a model for a new critical pedagogy built on an interdisciplinary practice of teaching in which students from architecture, interior design, and landscape architectrue have to address their own position within the context of a new studio while confronting a new language, i.e. that of the other discipline. In this study we analyze two interdisciplinary studios we co-taught in 2017 and 2018 as case studies for applied history and the production of culture through our collaboration with the US Department of State's Overseas Building Operations office in Cultural Heritage. In these research-based, interdisciplinary design studios we were tasked by the State Department to develop new methodologies of documenting and disseminating via websites information about two historic properties abroad, the Winfield House (London) and the Villa Petschek (Prague), both historically significant American Ambassadors' Residences. Our work resulted in a body of research that emerged out of applied onsite field work combined with analytic methods, archival investigations, and interdisciplinary communication to create a holistic understanding of the role historic properties abroad can play in the production of culture within an academic environment that is linked through current technology to society at large.

Japan-ness + Suchness:

Dr. Brian R Sinclair — 2019-05-18

Japan is in many ways a mysterious society with a rich history and complex culture. Informed by longstanding traditions and deeply-rooted values, contemporary Japan struggles to chart paths forward while retaining strong threads binding yesterday to tomorrow. Modern planning, architecture and design in Japan, and perhaps most notably in its capital city of Tokyo, in many ways illuminates the tensions that exist between the authority of the past and the promise of the future. Inspired in part by pervasive spiritual paths, fundamentally Shintoism and Buddhism, design embraces notions of ephemerality, impermanence and non-attachment. It also characterizes the pursuit and acceptance of perfection through imperfection. Wabi-Sabi and similar approaches highlight a high degree of comfort with the uncertain, the flawed and the incomplete. That said, remarkable advances in high-technology and an aggressive uptake of digital media counter this acceptance of the indeterminate, both in social and physical spheres. People are increasingly connected and informed, yet ironically disconnected and unaware. While society writ-large is shaped by intense formal and informal expectations to conform (the nail the stands out gets hammered down), it also permits ample latitude for the proliferation of subcultures and the acceptance of the extraordinary. Metabolist Architecture, for example, demonstrated an unbridled openness to utopian vision, bold departures and iconic gestures. The present research, through meta-analysis of the literature, case studies and logical argumentation, critically examines the notions of ‘Japan-ness' and ‘suchness' in light of current turbulence and transformations. The author, an architect and psychologist with extensive first-hand experience of Japan, considers a spectrum of dimensions that serve to distinguish and define the country and culture. Viewed through scholarly lenses that include architecture, education, spirituality and homelessness, the paper delineates and interprets the many qualities of Japan that continue to uphold its interwoven veils of mystery, sensuality, advancement and atmosphere. The paper seeks to demonstrate how architecture and urbanism in Japan embodies historic, spiritual and cultural values & practices. Using Tokyo as one window into such aspects, the author explores a variety of facets of the metropolis that illustrate those qualities that contribute to ‘Japan-ness'. Discussion includes implications/impacts to an annual study abroad program in architecture and planning whereby graduate students search for contextual understanding and cultural meaning prior to embarking on dramatic and diverse urban design projects. Designing, in a studio setting, in such a complicated and charged milieu demands a willingness to know and a commitment to connect. The deliverables of the research include the portrayal of a series of features of Japan-ness woven into an approach for understanding the conditions, complexities and characteristics of this leading nation and its incomparable culture. The systems- oriented multi-pronged tactic, and its underpinning information, proves valuable for researchers, educators, students and visitors examining, discovering and engaging Japan.

Learning from Performative Mid-Century Enclosures:

Clifton Fordham — 2019-05-18

Important features often accompanying mid-century modernism were solar control devices, included in work of leading architects as well as main street practitioners. Although the application of solar devices was largely intuitive, the Olgyay brothers published a book in 1957 called Solar Control and Shading Devices that related theory to projects utilizing mathematical and graphic analysis. Prior to this point published studies of solar design principles focused on generic massing strategies, and did not relate solar design to specific architectural details or aesthetics. By uniting the art and science of architecture, and not utilizing examples that are primarily functional, the Olgyays sought to inspire other architects. This approach is similar to most contemporary case-study books that select examples from designers of high aesthetic reputation. After air-conditioning became standard in the US in the nineteen-fifties, use of overt solar design devices waned. When interest in solar design reinvigorated during the energy crisis of the seventies, the aesthetics of solar design were folky and peripheral to mainstream architectural culture. Interest in vernacular buildings accompanying the revival. Reprinted editions of Victor Olgyay's Design with Climate and Reyner Banham's The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment enjoyed cult status. It would take another couple of decades for interest in environmentally grounded architecture to return with a broader focus on materials and engineered systems. Despite the beautifully rendered book, Lessons from Modernism: Environmental Design Strategies in Architecture, 1925-1970 published in 2014, there has been little recent historical research on mid-century solar design. A result has been a loss of the benefits of historical solar design knowledge. Abandonment of valuable knowledge is consistent with a larger culture of obsolescence and fashion. Rapid movement from one style to another has complicated comparisons requiring extra effort to harvest fundamental knowledge. A corollary is a lack of critical attention to building projects that fall short of promised performance, but are valuable for comparison. Shift to high-tech building products and systems have eclipsed the value of performance of older buildings where the shape of building elements is central to performance. This paper revisits examples of mid-century solar design that have evaded comprehensive history books and are largely unavailable to contemporary architects. At the center is a house designed by Louis Kahn and Anne Tyng in the late 1940's for the Weiss family that exemplifies how modern design can support human needs through an innovative widow wall system that mediated light, privacy, ventilation and thermal comfort with integrated adjustable panels, horizontal louvers, and heating elements. Aspects of the system translated to sliding panels that control light and views at perimeter study carrels in Kahn's Exeter Library, one of his later works.

Life in a high-rise

Ezgi Bay — 2019-05-17

What does encourage people to spend their time outdoors of their residences? Is it the weather? Is it the enclosure? Is it the safety of their neighborhood? Currently, the Turkish government faces social and spatial disintegration in urban areas. Different ethnicities, beliefs and income levels in the cities divide society. In the last decades, the Turkish Mass Housing Administration - known as TOKI - has altered the silhouette of old low-rise dense neighborhoods with tall apartment buildings. Moving into vertical developments, low-income populations deal with new urban lifestyles. In the past, picturesque streets and little squares with full of activity allowed inhabitants to hang around with family and neighbors. In the present, the TOKI developments are characterized as possessing anonymous areas, that are the un-planned remains of the towers' footprints. Have these urban and architectural circumstances exacerbated the lack of social cohesion in communities all around the country? Through a case study in a TOKI project in the city of Gaziantep - in southeastern Turkey, this research illustrates the current conditions of indoor and communal ground-level areas of this project. Interviews and observations make evident the need to energize these communities exploring climate-responsive design alternatives. Such solutions would alleviate the outdoor thermal stress in this hot and dry climate (particularly in summer). This paper aims to review the current conditions of social housing in Turkey, and the significance of communal outdoor spaces. Survey data makes evident that interaction between people can be enhanced by placing well-defined outdoor. Through a more pleasant range of temperatures and shading regions, communal outdoor areas help communities improve experiences inhabiting and sharing these spaces with others. They stimulate urban vitality, and shape well-defined neighborhoods with participatory and well-aware residents.

Light-Diffusing Insulation:

Michael D Gibson — 2019-05-17

Daylighting is an important strategy for low energy buildings today, yet glass compromises the overall thermal resistance of building envelops: even expensive triple-glazed windows conduct heat at over twice the rate of opaque exterior walls, insulated to energy code minimums. Triple glazed windows are also heavy, expensive, and energy intensive in their manufacturing. Today, lighting consumes 1/3 of electricity in commercial buildings, and daylighting may potentially reduce building energy use by 28% or more (Williams 2012). As the energy code continues to constrain the prescriptive window-to-wall ratios of commercial buildings, it is important to develop envelope systems that admit energy-saving daylight while better managing heat gains and losses. A series of graduate courses at Kansas State University examined the performance of several existing glazing-integrated insulation solutions, using this research to propose a variety of innovative alternatives that can increase the thermal performance of transparent assemblies in building facades. With both computer analysis and instrumented testing of small prototypes, the research seeks to better understand the physics of fenestration interlayers, while also identifying new strategies for improving the performance of basic double glazed insulated glass units and double wall construction. Test results in the paper present the thermal performance, light transmission, and light diffusion of existing light-diffusing and translucent products and student-developed prototypes. Following a discussion of the research work, a generalized model attempts to better explain the physics at work in interlayers, and propose how such systems can be optimized to maximize light diffusion while improving the thermal performance of glazing units.

Locally-Sourced Architecture

Alejandra Cervantes — 2019-05-17

Architectural projects contribute to economic development through many channels, including the specifying of materials and building systems. As specification systems become more standardized, relying on familiar manufacturers or product lines, architects inadvertently contribute to concentrations of opportunity - and potentially resulting wealth - along established supply chain channels. With increased globalization of product manufacturers and supply chains, those who benefit from this system are frequently distant from the community in which the project resides. This research identifies an interdisciplinary process to help refocus the economic benefits of material choices through repositioning the design professional within the ecosystem of those decisions. This process leverages architectural services to enhance local economies through social and material capital. Developed through a national research consortium connecting academia and architectural practice, the research is led by a HGA Architects & Engineers and the University of Minnesota who teamed to explore these questions beginning in 201S. Preliminary outcomes of the research identified ways architecture projects could embed data-driven processes within an effective economic development strategy, in turn opening possibilities for architects to impart positive change in a project's local economy and improve their agency in the systems of material and social currency that enable local economic growth. Through this research a ‘locally-sourced' design process was developed in which embedding the data of local economic experts within the process of material and systems selections could maximize targeted impact, and architects would be able to track the benefits of these selections for ultimate sustainment. This research not only offers architects an opportunity for expanded architectural services, it also posits an equitable design and construction process with the potential to enhance client relationships, increase supplier partnerships, and benefit local communities.

Manila's Resettlement Communities:

Lyndsey Deaton — 2019-05-18

Manila, the densest city in the world, actively resettles families from informal-inner city communities to large social housing communities on the urban fringe. This paper describes these resettlements from the perspective of teenage residents (kids). I applied an inductive research methodology and qualitative methods to investigate the relationship between architecture and kid's social lives. Collaborating with four resettlement communities, I collected and analyzed photographs, interview transcripts, observations, and drawings by kids, community advocates, and government officials. I suggest that kids in the resettlement communities are looking for ways to mentally adjust to their situation as they shift into the reality and responsibility of limited resources. They use cell phones and social media for entertainment and for testing out new identities that are uninhibited by their environmental constraints.

Map The Gap

Diana Susan Nicholas — 2019-05-18

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America, health and well-being depend more on where we live, learn, work and play than on medical care, which accounts for only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of preventable early deaths (Brawer, R. et al., 2016). Housing insecurity, marked by uninhabitable living conditions, uncertainty regarding capacity to pay rent, and multiple relocations, threatens the physiological and mental health of individuals and overburdens infrastructure (Sandel et al., 201S). Our current research reveals that housing insecurity is exacerbated via disconnects between legal affordances, community-based organization (CBO) responsibility misconception, and a lack of resources. This paper will examine the research and development philosophies and processes which substantiate Map the Gap, a transdisciplinary, in-development mobile-Health intervention/prevention tool intended to reduce the burden of housing insecurity in Philadelphia. The tool takes its name from several efforts currently underway to consider the gap in income required for families to avoid eviction. This research group has developed an emerging framework to approach the community work required to cultivate efficient, effective relationships between Philadelphia residents and the built environment. It is anticipated that Map the Gap will play a critical role in health care and wellness promotion. In addition to enabling Philadelphia residents to access resources which improve the built environment, the human-centered accessible architecture of the Map the Gap system itself will lay the foundation for a Culture of Health, transforming determinants of health into constituents of health, and thus creating new imperatives for design of sociotechnical structures which transcend relational and environmental spaces.

Methods of knowing:

David Fannon — 2019-05-18

Unlike disciplines defined by well-established methodologies, no single method characterizes architectural research. Instead, scholars and practitioners adapt approaches from across disciplines in the humanities, natural, and social sciences to answer the questions at hand. Questions in, of, and about contemporary practice demand the systematic creation of new knowledge; but design inquiry necessarily yields knowledge highly-situated in specific projects, and struggles to integrate qualitative and quantitative data, to address uncertainty, and to demonstrate validity. While the discipline produces and consumes research, the study and dissemination of research methods in education and practice remain rare, ad hoc, and anecdotal. This paper traces the methodology of a multi-year research project bridging research and practice conducted by a team of academics in response to a call from the profession for research advancing adaptive and regenerative buildings. The work builds on years of speculative design research and historical-theoretical scholarship in the context of the academy and was awarded a significant research prize to support a two-year program of research seeking significant advances in the profession. The resulting knowledge addresses both scholars and practitioners, supporting application in practice and scholarly discourse about the built environment. The team adopted a grounded theory approach: seeking not to test a specific hypothesis but to develop an organizing theory. Through a mix of methods, architectural practice and architectural products became both the subject and object of research. The team conducted dozens of structured interviews with selected designers, clients, and building occupants, which were recorded, transcribed, coded and synthesized. Nearly one-hundred building projects were identified as possibly valuable case studies, and documented through analytical design drawings, and compared using graphic matrices. This paper describes and evaluates the methodological choices and their implications for research in the built environment.

Middle Eastern Maidans:

Samia Rab Kirchner — 2019-05-17

This paper focuses on two public squares (Maidans) in rapidly growing cities in the Middle East: Maidan Naghsh-e-Jahan in Isfahan, Iran and Maidan Rolla in Sharjah, UAE. These cities are selected for their social diversity and the intentional use of public squares in formalizing and directing city growth. As epicenters of urban performances, both Maidans have historically attracted diverse people across social strata and age. While Iran and UAE may not be considered model democratic states and each has a distinct demographic composition, the enhanced social interaction that takes place in the two case Maidans have lessons for making "safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces” (Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development). In comparatively analyzing the two case Maidans, we aim to: 1) Identify their socio- spatial features; 2) present indicators of socially interactive and integrated public places. Using mixed-methods research, we first layer historical maps of the two cities to identify the case Maidans that have persisted over time. Second, we use "Space Syntax” to assess their integrative character. Finally, engaging Projects for Public Space criteria, we comparatively assess their interactive aspects to illustrate their shared urbanity.

Mind The Perception And Emotional Response To Design:

Madlen Simon — 2019-05-17

Design involves constant decision-making. The decision process is influenced by sets of conditions or parameters; some controllable, such as the business context, and some unpredictable and uncertain, such as stakeholders' preference. Design decisions related to user's perceptions and emotional response to sustainable features (daylight and green space) and aesthetic value (look and feel) are generally hard to evaluate and quantify. Typically, user response is solicited following construction, in post-occupancy evaluation studies. However, decisions with long-term impacts are often irreversible after implementation; therefore, decision-makers must seriously evaluate the design proposals(alternatives) before arriving at a decision. This paper presents an experiment conducted combining an immersive virtual environment and electroencephalogram (EEG) as a promising tool to evaluate design options during the early design stage of a project. More precisely, the objective is to (a) develop a data-driven approach for design evaluation and (b) understand the correlation between the end users' preference and emotional state. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the combination of virtual reality technology and brainwave response monitoring has been proposed to study the design validation method in architecture.

Modern Technologies in Acoustics and Lighting Teaching and Practice

Umberto Berardi — 2019-05-17

With the promise that new technologies, and in particular smartphones and virtual reality, may make everyday life easier, numerous apps have been created over the last years for the architectural lighting and acoustic assessments of buildings. This trend opens new opportunities for teaching acoustics and lighting. Meanwhile, the possibilities of augmented and virtual reality are still largely unexplored. The pedagogical aim of exploring new pedagogical approach is to allow students to engage beyond the traditional building physics approach to these subjects and to get a better quantitative and experiential understanding of light and sound parameters. First, the possibility of massive use of auralization is described. Then, the present paper discusses some opportunities for introducing building acoustics and lighting assessments through apps in both courses and architectural studios. The goal is to support experiential learning opportunities for concepts such as the warmth or the enveloping of a space from both an acoustic and lighting perspective. Many questions raised from the first few years of experiences in using smartphone apps are discussed. Comparing different apps on the same or on different smartphones resulted in significant fluctuations in the observed quantities. Since illuminance or sound levels were better detected with professional tools than by smartphones, several challenges of using these apps are discussed. Knowing the limits of current smartphone apps, this paper reflects on how much apps could be integrated into both university teaching and practice approaches. The experience confirmed that smartphone apps cannot yet replace professional measurement tools, while there is evidence about the benefits that modern technologies and in particular virtual reality, can provide to architectural acoustic and lighting teaching and practice.

On The Architectural Laboratory as a Hybrid Interface Between Theory and Practice

Bechara Helal — 2019-05-17

Architecture as a discipline is focused on the architectural project. But whereas professional designers produce architectural projects, academic researchers use the architectural project as an object of study in order to produce new theoretical knowledge. This clear distinction between the goals of professionals and academics has divided the field into two groups, a polarization that mirrors the often-mentioned opposition between design and practice on one side and research and theory on the other. However, in recent years, what appears to be a hybrid model incorporating both these approaches has been emerging: the architectural laboratory. The scientific laboratory is a space where new knowledge is produced and is therefore naturally linked to academic institutions and to research. However, since their emergence at the end of the 19^thCentury, architectural laboratories have been appearing as much in the academic field as in the field of professional practice. If all the activities at the heart of the scientific laboratory are related to research and to the production of theoretical knowledge, one can wonder why architectural firms would choose to refer to this model to describe their design practices. Are these references to the laboratory model in the naming of professional architectural firms a sign of practices that go beyond "traditional” design? Do these professional "architectural laboratories” incorporate a research approach that was once only found in academic environments? What exactly is an "architectural laboratory”? This presentation will discuss the hybrid nature of the practices at the heart of the architectural laboratories by considering and comparing two remarkable cases. The first, the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture is a contemporary professional practice set up in 2007. The second is a series of interrelated academic laboratories that have been set up since 2002 within the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia University). Through a description and comparison of the productions of these cases, we will offer a clarification of the figure of the architectural laboratory and show how this emerging model is an indicator of a tightening hybridization of the once distinct activities that are theoretical research and design practice.

Pedagogy & Praxis:

Ezgi Balkanay — 2019-05-17

As professional practices adapt and specialize to address the thorny complexities of real-world problems, it becomes increasingly important that practical applications of design research should be more quickly digestible, assimilated, and incorporated. This has motivated some practitioners to direct”or produce”the research studies they need. It is not always clear, however, that practice-based research ‘measures up' to academic standards. The situation opens up discussions of alternative "practicum” research training”both for advanced (doctoral-level) research studies but also for applied research methods taught in professional design programs (Masters level). In particular, this study presents preliminary findings on a range of programmatic comparisons between Doctor of Design [DDes] and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Design degree programs, exploring both their alignments and autonomy, in order to discuss the goals and methods of teaching practice-based design research. The study uses research training structures in Education as a model for comparison with Design. A typology is proposed to distinguish: (1) professional (entry-level) doctoral degree, (2) academic doctoral degree with a research focus, and (3) professional (advanced) doctoral degree with a research focus. Using ordinary text analysis tools, key passages describing goals and purpose; mission/learning outcome; structure; and delivery mechanisms from selected doctoral programs are analyzed. Then, keywords from professional doctoral programs (such as DDes, DArch, and DSc), are discussed. Emerging strategies, structures, and delivery mechanisms suggest that professional doctoral degrees may be able to engage more easily with professional practice and to offer clinical approaches for rigorous research as well as innovative design practices. This offers welcome opportunities to bridge academia and design industries. However, because not every concept-making practice constitutes "research,” a significant need remains for the development of workable definitions of research standards and systems. Student- practitioners in advanced doctoral-level design research programs thus require a command of professional ethics and research integrity, as well as setting clear boundaries between professional services and research investigations.

Preventing Youth Incarceration:

Julia Robinson — 2019-05-17

This paper presents an undergraduate design studio as a site for research. In discussing the validity of design research, Groat and Wang point out that Ellison and Eatman (2008) define public scholarship as a form of socially engaged research (2013:51). This paper posits that design is often a form of exploratory research or hypothesis-seeking. Although this project is socially engaged, considering design research as exploratory opens the door to a broader group of projects. Business researcher Dudovskiy defines exploratory research as investigations that explore the nature of a question without requiring conclusive results. He points out that "the researcher ought to be willing to change his/her direction as a result of revelation of new data and new insights.” (2018). Here we argue that when an architectural design studio involves research to analyze and develop evidence (including literature searches, site visits, input by experts and engagement of community members), as well as rigorous investigation of design hypotheses (evaluation of alternative designs, documentation of architectural characteristics, generation of evaluation criteria, and rigorous assessment of options), the design studio becomes a site of research scholarship that informs design. The design studio presented here originally focused on reconceiving youth rehabilitation, but was reframed as preventing youth incarceration. The diverse final project proposals explore the general hypothesis that providing appropriate youth and family services in the community may contribute to the prevention of juvenile incarceration.

Riffing on Kuma:

Naomi Darling — 2019-05-18

This study is based on an architecture studio that examines culture as an integral part of architectural production, on the theory that achieving a deeper level of sustainability requires a thorough-going engagement with culture. Believing that culture encompasses and !s a society's approach to all the pillars (ecological, social, economic) of sustainable development. Achieving this requires deeper insight into the myriad ways in which culture can shape architecture, which in turn shapes culture. While the link between culture and sustainability is increasingly accepted, what culture !s relative to architecture needs more careful analysis. We will first review how studying artifacts beyond the confines of architectural production sparked deeper understandings of how culture is both persistent and dynamic across time and circumstance. Our focus, however, will be Kengo Kuma's theory of how pattern and layering are potent vehicles for enacting culture as sustainability--"The rediscovery of the heritage of traditional Japanese patterns and boundaries can unveil new horizons and new challenges to sustainability in world's architecture. Through layering we can protect ourselves from natural elements, without detaching us from nature” (Liotta & Belfiore, 94). We will show how our own "riff” on this through analyses and making exercises”helped students internalize qualitative and quantitative sustainability values. Students embarked on project design ready to test how culture, as embodied in things like food growing and preparation, climatic and seasonal awareness aligned with patterns of activity, and layered spatial practices, could inform sustainable approaches. This enhanced mode of design thinking will enable them to function more meaningfully, as well as pragmatically, out in the world. This is a case study based on qualitative methods of evaluation.

Seeding Sequence:

Kristopher Palagi — 2019-05-18

Engaging architecture as an emergent, complex system, this paper examines the implementation of a critical design approach -- the Seeding Sequence -- in two diametrically different studio courses: A 5th year Integrative Design and a 1st year Beginning Design one. Drawing from a Systems Thinking approach to understanding relationships, this critical design approach trades the designer's impulse for formal control and fixation of the architectural object for one of a complex adaptive system. Framed against three past pedagogical approaches to beginning design, the Seeding Sequence process guides the students to work in a recursive cycle between two competing modes and scales of investigation: a modeling method that revels in the detail and a drawing method which considers the context. The Seeding Sequence moves beyond procedural actions by requiring a level of abstraction between the two methods. This paper presents the process, final results, and selective answers from the students' evaluation from both studios this paper concludes by discusses the effects of this design process on three aspects of the students' work: 1) withholding the ability to preconceive the result. 2) framing one methods of investigation against the strengths of another. 3) establishing direct connections between the design decisions and the unique attributes of the materials, program, and site of the project. This paper concludes by critiquing that the specific methods of investigation are selected to challenge the skill level of the students and the resolution of architectural design thinking required by the course. But more importantly, the pairing of two methods -- specifically two with dramatically different benefits and outcomes -- establishes an awareness in the student to actively question what each new method brings to their design process.

Shaping the periphery:

Aaron Brakke — 2019-05-18

In an age that has become interested in urban issues at the planetary scale, it is advantageous for architectural design research to bridge the micro, meso and macro scales of the built environment. This article addresses the macro by comparing metrics of global urbanization, and then outlines the disparities between ‘the urban condition(s)' found in North and South America. A more nuanced description of the uneven conditions of geographical development found in formal and informal constructions in Latin America sheds light on the context of this study, which sets the stage for a presentation of research that investigates several socially disjointed environments that represent the spatiotemporal conditions present in much of the contemporary Latin American urban landscape. This work has involved the participation of undergraduate students, graduate architecture students and faculty at Universidad Piloto de Colombia. The design research addresses the conditions of the emergent conditions of Latin American cities through participatory action research. Aspects of this research have been introduced into a design research studio setting where students have mapped the urban conditions and levels of forced displacement. Over the past 4 years, a network of private and public institutions and a NGO have worked with a vulnerable community located at the southern periphery of Bogota, Colombia to articulate alternative visions for future development than what has been scripted by the local planning department. The physical transformation of several strategic points of their neighborhood has begun through processes of ‘autoconstruccion'. This paper outlines these processes and the observed impact that the transformation of the built environment has fostered in the community.

Stakeholder theory as a paradigm for cultural production of the built environment

Alexandra Staub — 2019-05-17

Cultural production finds constant reinforcement through the built environment, yet defining what "culture” is has become an increasingly contentious in recent years. In the United States, the rise of segregated physical spaces and the accompanying social stratification in the form of gated communities and pseudo-public spaces that attract homogenous communities has been well documented. Popularly, such segregation is linked to "living in a bubble”, in which different cultural norms within a society become isolated. Despite problems associated with such isolation, such as economic stratification and social intolerance, few architects and planners have addressed how the accompanying cultural production paradigms are related to the production of the built environment, and the architect's role in this process. This paper uses a variation of stakeholder theory to explore the consequences of our designs. Stakeholder theory, first proposed by R. Edward Freedman in the 1980s, states that in order to succeed, companies should create value for all stakeholders - customers, employees, suppliers, financiers, and the community - and not just shareholders. Extended to the process by which the built environment is created, this means that the effects of our building patterns and practices must be considered through the lens of all possible stakeholders in order to produce successful projects. The first step is to gain a fuller understanding of a project's short and long-term social and cultural ramifications. Using a method adopted from principled negotiation in which stakeholders and their interests are identified in order to develop scenarios by which a majority of interests can be accommodated, this paper will analyze several recent building projects in the United States to assess their impact on cultural production.

Student Learning Through Monitoring and Simulating Buildings' Energy Use and Comfort

Wendy Meguro — 2019-05-17

This paper shares the methods, selected projects, and reflections on the effectiveness of extracurricular student learning through monitoring and simulating buildings' energy use and occupant thermal comfort. The following applied research features occur sporadically in architecture schools and it is notable to see a research laboratory consistently maintain them over many years. The atypical method uses a research lab to simultaneously combine: extracurricular in-depth, hands-on environmental systems education; community engagement on "real world” buildings; paid student research positions in multiple disciplines; gradual acquisition of an environmental systems tool kit; and sustained consistent funding from research grants. While the previous qualities exist in architectural education, studies show they are the exception and not the norm (Carraher et al., 2Q17). The University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Architecture Environmental Research and Design Lab consistently goes beyond the typical professional architecture curriculum to deepen students' knowledge in and affinity for designing and operating energy efficient, comfortable buildings. The pedagogical approach and hypothesis proposes that student researchers who work in these extracurricular research positions gain a deeper understanding of building physics and are enriched by interdisciplinary student interactions, which will positively benefit their future studies and careers in a way that is not possible through curricular work only. Finally, the evidence of the student learning and positive influence on students' future careers are benchmarked against Bloom's Taxonomy, a framework for categorizing educational objectives (Bloom, 1956).

Tensegrity Cushions

Kristopher Palagi — 2019-05-17

This article presents a tensile, fabric formwork for casting structural concrete walls that utilizes a tensegrity space-frame system. Based on analytical and scaled physical modeling, a series of full-scale proof-of-concept concrete casts demonstrate the methods, techniques, and sequence of construction along with the variation and tolerances achieved. Presented as an alternative to current cast-in-place concrete construction techniques, the tensegrity formwork provides a base logic for novel and emergent behavior in the final form while demanding comparably minimal material, equipment, and labor skill-sets. Empirical testing of the proof-of-concept casts document three points of control: the formwork system's ability to maintain industry standard coverage of structural steel; an acceptable tolerance on the location of structural connections; and, a reliable formula for estimating concrete volume. Further development of the assembly will include the testing of structural connections along with embedding programmatic and environmental design responses.

The Aesthetics of Infrastructure:

Jessica Colangelo — 2019-05-17

Recognizing the importance of aesthetics in the contemporary discussion on infrastructure design, this paper looks to the work of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a historical case study that successfully merged a strong aesthetic agenda within an infrastructure project. The structures of the TVA have been extensively published in architectural journals and popular magazines for their innovation in dam design, modern appearance and ability to incorporate humanist values within a large-scale infrastructure project. Often discussed through the grand vision of the Chief Architect, Roland A. Wank, less attention has been focused on the specific project methods utilized in the collaboration of the architects and engineers of the TVA. With research collected from the National Archive at Atlanta, this paper explores the role that scale models play in the design process of the TVA during the design and construction of Norris Dam. For architects, the scale model is an important tool for the testing and communicating a project's design intentions. However as is common in the world of architecture, the model is more than a utilitarian tool, often gaining the status of an aesthetic object that exists in its own right outside of the project for which it was intended to describe. While the production and reception of architecture models comes with its own extensive history and theorization, this paper looks specifically at the models that were built for a large-scale infrastructure as the site in which an aesthetic project that could be initiated by the architect is adopted within the working process of a large collaborative design team.

The Alzheimer's patients' experience of the built environment:

Pegah Mathur — 2019-05-17

Healthcare regularly uses phenomenology as a research perspective to improve medical care. This paper explores the opportunities for applying phenomenology to better understand how the built environment might impact the behavioral symptoms of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is expected to be a major public health problem in the U.S. for the aging population. It is projected that by 2050, the number of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's will triple. This projection raises the question of how we are prepared to provide care for this growing population who, in some stages of the disease, are no longer able to meaningfully communicate. This paper outlines a review of phenomenology as a tool for that planning. From its inception to modern applications, possibilities for applying phenomenology to the intersection of the built environment and Alzheimer's are reviewed. The ontology of phenomenology, including Husserl and others, is assessed, and standard methodologies are discussed. With this foundation, possibilities for the application of a phenomenological approach to better understand the built environment's role in the of the lived experience of Alzheimer's disease are explored, including discussions of quality standards. Rooted in interpretivism and seeking an in-depth understanding of contexts and personal interpretations, phenomenological studies typically gather data through surveys, interviews and observations, which may cause problems with patients that often have issue retaining their memories. As such, this paper walks through the development of phenomenology with an eye to its potential application to Alzheimer's. This is followed by suggestions for applying the phenomenological research paradigm towards the support - and potentially future cure process of Alzheimer's with a focus on the built environment.

The Design of a Wellness Center for Orphans in Idlib, Syria

Maram Moushmoush — 2019-05-17

Syria has reached its seventh year of war, with its future decimated and its citizens searching for hope. For those who stayed, their lives, lifestyles, customs, and historic legacy are uncertain. This research focused on providing orphans located in Idlib, Syria with a holistic mixed- use facility that provides for well being, education, health care, and spiritual needs, while using the culture's vernacular architectural history. The research used the Integral Framework as a rigorous methodology to guide analysis of the problems and identify solutions. The framework provided a systematic means to research experience and well being, performance, systems and culture at multiple scales to help ensure the process was not just broad, but also deep, meaningful and holistic. The site has the capacity to house 500 children, with services that include a Montessori- style school for ages 3-12, a medical and dental clinic, an urban farm, soccer field, and bakery. Holistic wellbeing is enhanced by water and food security, energy supply, economic growth, ecological experiences, and resilient architecture. The project is an important symbolic representation of hope for Syria's future generation and reconstruction. This project's location in Idlib was primarily chosen for bridging the coastal and central regions, becoming a refuge for many displaced Syrians escaping the regime. By assessing the past and current problems, the wellness center will provide a model for environmental stewardship and restorative design.

The Economic Case for Form-Based Codes

M Clay Adams — 2019-05-17

As many communities across the US look to Form-Based Codes (FBCs) as an alternative policy tool to segregated land-use zoning, increased research seeks to understand their impact beyond the physical built environment. FBCs have received both criticism and praise by academics, lawmakers, and citizens for desired or resultant social and economic effects. However, there are limits to what FBCs can and should control as a policy tool, and as each iteration is created uniquely for a given area, the intent and principles that form the basis of that code are, potentially, more influential on the repercussions experienced than the type of code employed. As such, criticisms and praise are often wrongly ascribed to FBCs. There is little research to determine the scope of misunderstanding surrounding FBCs and the varied players involved in their implementation. Additionally, as modern FBCs are still relatively new as implemented policy governing the built environment, examples of mature development formed under their direction, or academic studies of the resultant social and economic effects of those developments, are few. This gap in knowledge allows for the continued dissemination of misleading information attributed to FBCs, both positive and negative. Using a mixed-method approach, I will perform a comparative economic analysis of mature developments formed under both conventional segregated land-use zoning and FBCs in Kendall, Florida. This analysis will aid lawmakers in making evidenced-based decisions for community economic development and will help inform planners and government officials of clarifications needed during the participatory process.

The right to the city in informal settlements:

Silvina Lopez Barrera — 2019-05-18

Today small-towns in western Uruguay are facing challenges related to informal settlements development, intensification of industrial agriculture, and climate change. In the last decade, different strategic plans and policies carried out by governments at multiple levels have attempted to regularize and/or resettle informal settlements in different towns and cities. Despite governmental efforts, informal settlements continue to grow in areas that are at high environmental risk, and where social-spatial fragmentation has increased between the formal and informal fabric. Lefebvre's concept "right to the city” is a response to social-spatial inequalities and it emphasizes the idea that disenfranchised communities have the right to occupy and transform urban space. Using Lefebvre's "right to the city” and "the production of space”, this paper studies informal housing and informal settlements in two neighborhoods in a small-town in western Uruguay and how they adapt to climate change consequences. It reveals how local residents occupy and transform space in two informal neighborhoods to solve their housing needs and to access to resources and infrastructure after an extreme weather event. Based on two case studies, this article reveals spatial patterns of informal settlements, the relationship between formal and informal fabric, and the ways post-disaster informal settlements and environments are represented. Field- work was conducted in 2018 and methods included spatial mapping analysis, semi-structured interviews with key actors, participant observation, and analyses of secondary data. Findings suggest that top-down bureaucratic decision-making process during post-disaster reconstruction limited residents' agency and their right to participate and transform the urbanization process and the places they inhabit. This decision-making process was guided by restricted representations of space determining whether or not residents would qualify for subsidized housing programs. This study aims to encourage communities to develop community-based initiatives that could allow them not only to anticipate and react to environmental stresses but to thrive in the long-term future.

The type chair: formal and economic optimization in full-scale 3d printing

Frank Jacobus — 2019-05-17

This paper discusses the implications of full-scale 3d printing when confronted with normative economic constraints in relation to desired formal outcomes. To explore this, we designed the Type Chair, which includes in its design, a cost and form optimization algorithm that ties the specifics of formal outcomes directly to cost. We describe the design of the chair and its accompanying algorithm, as well as the results we've gathered by employing this process. There is cutting edge, well documented work being done in the domain of 3d printing which suggests a potential paradigm shift for future architects and their approach toward design and construction. These processes embrace the notion that an architect's role is evolving away from the development of singular fixed objects and into the conceptualization of objects whose form changes based on the inputs and desires of a lay audience. The novelty of the approach in this project is the interrogation of how 3d printing processes may affect formal iteration and control in relation to normative market processes and forces. There is an ongoing revolution in the way objects are being conceived and made, and perhaps more importantly, an evolution in the expectations of a lay public whose daily engagement is now with devices and objects which have, as a primary ethos, the character of individual responsiveness. These discussions are important as we confront the potentials and limitations of full-scale 3d printing as a construction type, and how these emerging processes will affect architects and their changing role in the years to come.

The Untapped Potential of Passive Energy Housing Developments

Craig Griffen — 2019-05-17

Recent reports paint a dire picture of the potential worldwide effects of climate change. Since our buildings' energy consumption plays a significant role in the production of greenhouse gases, many more energy-efficient buildings could affect a major reduction in carbon production. Single-family developer housing represents a high percentage of US construction at close to a million starts per year. Yet, the typical subdivision is designed with little to no regard for orientation to sun, wind and thermal envelope efficiency. Since single-family homes consume around 80% of residential energy use, a million passive energy house starts per year could have profound effects on our energy use but most architects appear uninterested in suburban housing design. This segment of the market is prime opportunity for applying passive energy strategies on a massive scale. So with the looming specter of climate change, why do most architects and builders seem apathetic to the suburbs and continue to disregard this opportunity despite the potentially catastrophic results? This research/design project questioned: if passive solar houses have been around for decades, why are there few passive single-family housing communities, and why haven't they made the leap in scale? The research component investigates the historical reasons for the disconnect between architects, large housing developments and passive energy. Based on the findings, the design component proposes a variety of model house types, based on the Charleston House typology, and subdivision designs, both in the suburbs and as urban infill, as potential present-day strategies for extending the strategy to the massive scale. The research produced two governing questions that informed the design solutions: 1. How do we apply passive energy strategies to the pre-manufactured developer house? And, 2. How do we make passive houses marketable in a well-established industry?

Theorem and Practicum:

Elizabeth Martin-Malikian — 2019-05-18

The Thesis is the last major step toward graduation with a first professional degree, or Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.), which traditionally prepares students for practice. As a threshold between directed studios and independent thought, the Thesis provides an opportunity for the student to systematically explore a coherent line of investigation of issues relevant to the field of architecture. The Thesis is an intellectual position laid down or to be advanced. It is the first stage of the dialectic-discussion, that is, discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation. An architectural thesis demands that a student take a position and have something to say that is relevant to the discursive field that it inhabits and/or its wider cultural context. In the field of architecture such intellectual positions have implications that result from a critique and re-examination of the role of architecture as a critical participant in the conditioning of public and private space. Thus, while an undergraduate architectural thesis originates in a determinate intellectual position, it culminates in a designed artifact, but rarely the artifact itself. This paper takes a step in characterizing architectural research, where the interaction of Theorem and Practicum is used not only as a guiding principle in the critical thinking process, but also as a springboard for constructive practices in the built realm. This particular reading is an inquiry into the importance and influence of interaction between Theorem and Practicum, as well as, the importance of which is observed through different modes of cross-pollination occurring in various aspects of architectural discourse and practice. This investigation is explored in four perspectives, labeled ‘order', ‘values', ‘results' and ‘interaction' are categorized according to their relationship to the investigation of Theorem and Practicum. Furthermore, these four attributes permeate and connect the diverse areas of research explored, which in combination provides an argument that rather than questioning: "is doing architecture doing research” as articulated by Jeremy Till, instead asks: "is doing research doing architecture”. Our aim is to expand the pedagogical field where the interaction of Theorem and Practicum is not an isolated act, but one of making.

Thermal comfort and air quality in Chilean schools, perceptions of students and teachers

Maria Isabel Rivera — 2019-05-17

we pre5ent finding5 of naturally ventilated cla55room condition5 in primary 5chool buildings in the city of Concepcion, Chile, where there i5 no adherence to indoor environmental quality standards. We focused on thermal comfort and environmental perceptions of students and teachers, during fall and winter seasons. The goal is to examine the perceptions of children and teachers by analyzing responses to conditions in their classrooms, related to their socioeconomic context driven by school type. Approximately 888 students, aged 1O-14 years old, were surveyed from nine schools during fall season, and 333 students from four schools during winter. A total of 2,271 subject responses were collected in two campaigns. Physical measurements included: ambient air temperature, relative humidity, airspeed, radiant temperature, and CO2. Simultaneous subjective responses were collected through electronic surveys on tablets which included questions on thermal sensation, thermal acceptability, and thermal preference. We examined thermal sensation trends, perceptions of comfort and air quality, across public, private-subsidized, private- nonsubsidized schools. Results show that about ~8O% of teachers and students voted their thermal sensation primarily within the three central categories of the scale (-1, O, +1). A small distinction can be seen in fall season in the private-subsidized school with a tendency towards a warm thermal sensation (+1), which corresponded to higher indoor temperatures. High indoor CO2 concentration levels were measured in all of the classrooms, with a maximum of 4327 ppm in winter in public schools, and a minimum of 858 ppm in fall in private-subsidized schools.

Thermal preferences and cognitive performance estimation via user's physiological responses

Dongwoo Jason Yeom — 2019-05-17

This study investigated the relationship between occupants' thermal sensation, physiological responses, and cognitive performance to quantify the priorities of the selected physiological responses for optimal productivity. In order to quantify variables for optimal productivity estimation, this study considered the following factors: 1. Local body skin temperature as an occupant's physiological responses; 2. Participants' individual factors such as gender; 3. Cognitive performance in operation span task; 4. Environmental data such as indoor temperature, wind velocity, CO2 level and indoor humidity; 5. Individual ratings of subjective thermal sensation. A series of human experiments were conducted to collect physiological responses and cognitive performance in a different room temperature conditions. The skin temperatures and environmental data were recorded in every minutes, and thermal sensation was surveyed by the Likert 7 point scale questionnaires. The operation span (OSPAN) task was used to measure working memory as a cognitive performance for occupant's productivity. Total 39 participants' data was collected for comparative analysis. The results revealed significant correlations between overall thermal sensation and local body skin temperatures. Also, the OSPAN score showed that it has a significant correlation with indoor temperature, thermal sensation as well as physiological responses. The OSPAN results were higher when indoor temperature was relatively low or when participant's thermal perception was either slightly cool or cool. Most local body skin temperatures were negatively correlated with the cognitive test scores, therefore it was concluded that a little low temperature has a significant impact to promote occupant's productivity. This study also determined the priority of local skin temperatures and gender by their impact to estimate the occupant's cognitive performance.

Theseus' Paradox:

Benjamin Bross — 2019-05-17

In the Life of Theseus, Plutarch observes: "The ship on which Theseus sailed with the youths and returned in safety, the thirty-oared galley, was preserved by the Athenians down to the time of Demetrius Phalereus. They took away the old timbers from time to time, and put new and sound ones in their places, so that the vessel became a standing illustration for the philosophers in the mooted question of growth, some declaring that it remained the same, others that it was not the same vessel.” (Plutarch, Perrin, 1914, V 1,49). Thereafter, the paradox sparked discussion regarding an object's authenticity and identity. For Barthes (1974), the paradox presents form-permanence as a Structural argument. Walter Benjamin (1969) disagreed noting that "[t]he presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity.” When original producers are not available we can evaluate the relationship of contemporary design with historic modes of production through Material Culture. By privileging knowledge of what the spatial product is and how it was produced, the essay examines the role of History in addressing spatial authenticity. The essay uses Theseus' Paradox as a theoretical framework to evaluate authenticity and identity. Architectural objects either continue or discontinue the aesthetic language of their context; as designers cite History to generate designs claiming contextual site sensitivity, it is important to evaluate the validity of this approach. Specifically, Theseus' Ship is deconstructed using the philosophical arguments of atomism and essentialism. Atomism, a Positivist tool, determines elementary physical characteristics of a society's spatial practice. Essentialism (Aristotle) focuses on the nature of the spatial product: what it has been, it is, and could be. Designers can use Theseus' Paradox as a comparative framework to evaluate to what degree their proposal continues authentic modes of production rooted in historic spatial traditions and identity-based placemaking.

Total recall-ibration: teaching spatial thinking and critical design with virtual reality

Andrew Hart — 2019-05-17

Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive three dimensional computer generated environment. The concept of VR was introduced in 1960s when helmet mounted display (HMD) devices was introduced to fighter pilots). The technology has improved since then to mature wearable VR devices. Outside of military use, VR can be found in the entertainment and gaming industry, and commonly accessible for home users utilizing entry level technology with smart phones and adapters such as Google Cardboard. The technology has crossed from entertainment to education and visualization. Tapped more frequently in design education, utilized for ideation inception through to logistical planning. The power of VR is in its ability to close the communication gap between designer and builder and users of space. Several previous studies have focused on how VR can improve construction scheduling and safety. This tool can also be utilized to bridge from the conceptual and abstract; from teacher to student. Vr allows environment designers to test concepts in ‘virtual space' at 1:1 scale for themselves and for the critique of others - be they faculty, peers, internal, or reviewers. The utility of this tool comes from its ability to move communication from abstract visualization feedback to conversations held within a virtual representation of the space itself. This paper explores the role of VR in how students learn to design spaces and in how they communicate that space with fellow students, construction managers, and their faculty.

Unintended Consequences of Current Net Zero Energy Building Practice

Ming Hu — 2019-05-18

Within the built environment, the current term "Net Zero Energy” is often used to describe the balance in the operating energy of the building. Other forms of energy use besides the operating energy”relating to the transport of building materials, manufacturing, construction, repair, and maintenance”are normally not counted. However, the original concept of "net energy,” as used in the field of ecological economics, has a very different meaning. (Hernandez et al, 2010) In ecological economics, net energy relates to the whole life cycle energy accounting of an object or system and includes all the stages mentioned above, instead of focusing on the operating/use phase alone. While the high efficient building such as net zero energy building is a global trend and will help us to achieve the 80% carbon emission reduction by 2030, however, the attention to energy performance need to be broaden up in order to avoid unintended consequences. In this paper, an overall analysis is given of three key inadvertent consequences of the present-day net-zero movement in the built environment: the life cycle environmental impact caused by neglecting embodied energy, societal impact due to several characterizations of net-zero energy building, and overall ecological degradation caused by a sole focus on energy counting.

Visual effects of wood on thermal perception of interior environments

Denise Blackenberger — 2019-05-17

There is a general consensus, supported by preliminary evidence, that exposed wood improves human perception of thermal comfort, though this idea has yet to be supported by meaningful effect sizes. This study sought to quantify human perception of thermal comfort of wood materials in a controlled laboratory setting. Participants experienced one of two wall treatments: exposed wooden wall panels and white-painted walls in a thermal environment set directly between "neutral” and "slightly warm” (81.5°F, 4Q%RH, PMV +Q.5). We hypothesized that participants exposed to the wood walls would gauge their thermal preference to be closer to neutral than that of participants who experienced the same thermal environment but with the white wall treatment. Wood was found to have a significant and moderate effect on thermal comfort, with the mean response of the participants who received the wood wall treatment being thermally preferable over that of the white wall (wood wall: M = Q.46, SD = Q.56; white wall: M = Q.68, SD = Q.51; p<Q.Q1).

Well-being in Memory Care Facilities:

Farhana Ferdous — 2019-05-17

From the last 40 years, the design of the physical environment in supporting dementia residents has been frequently mentioned in the research literature. The environmental design research literature has outlined the importance of social interaction and social network as one of the therapeutic goals to maintain the quality of life (QoL) for people experiencing dementia. Although several previous studies have conducted the empirical literature review to understand the physical environment and associated QoL in long-term care facilities (LTCF), no single study concentrated on the role of spatial design in social interaction. For elderly people with dementia, changes in their social or physical environment, or manifestations of dementia may have an influence on their social interaction and therefore, it is imperative to understand the factors associated with the physical environment, social interaction and thereby the improved quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to fill this gap and contribute to a better understanding of how ‘social interaction', the most important determinants to measure QoL for people experiencing dementia could be influenced under different spatial design and environmental characteristics. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the published evidence from diversified sectors such as medical and health literature, environmental psychology, architecture, interior design, and evidence-based design literature. By reviewing relevant literature and discussing environmental design factors associated with social interaction as a determinant of QoL, this paper outlines several critical spatial design characteristics and a comprehensive set of spatial design overview for LTCF that shown to affect positive social interaction and QoL of the residents, staff and their caregivers. The summary of this review could influence the future design of care facilities and provide designers the effectiveness or the weaknesses of their design decisions. As an expected outcome, this applied research could enhance the value and professional practice knowledge of memory care design that have a positive ripple effect in the healthcare design industry.